An object may be exposed to one or more ambient environmental conditions that can damage or otherwise adversely affect the object. A party, such as an owner or other having an interest in the object, may wish to determine whether the object was so exposed. Some goods may be particularly susceptible to damage from external forces or environmental extremes. For example, glassware, electronic instruments, mechanical parts, and the like may be damaged if dropped or subjected to excessive acceleration. Similarly, electronics, liquids, and pharmaceuticals may be harmed if exposed to temperatures and/or humidity outside of predetermined ranges.
Further, damage to a good may not be apparent simply by inspecting the good. Exposure to forces or extremes in temperature may not cause visually perceptible changes, but may affect the operating characteristics, effectiveness, and/or longevity of the good. For example, the effectiveness of a pharmaceutical or an electronic component may be altered if exposed to extreme temperatures. Similarly, electronic boards in a device may become unseated from connectors if such device is subjected to excessive acceleration, as may occur from being dropped or jostled.
In addition, when a customer reports to a seller that the good was already damaged upon receipt by the customer, it may be difficult to ascertain when such damage occurred, and who is accountable for such damage. In particular, it may be difficult to confirm whether the damage to the good occurred when the object was in storage before sale, in transit, or after the recipient received the good.
Monitoring devices have been developed that can track the progress of a good during shipment and/or environmental conditions to which such good is exposed. Such monitoring devices typically include a processor, memory, one or more sensors, a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) transceiver, and a battery. Such a device may include an accelerometer to measure any forces acting on the device, or an environmental sensor that measures, for example, the temperature and/or humidity in the environment surrounding the device. Such a device may be affixed to a good to be shipped or placed in an environment to be monitored, and the processor in the device periodically polls the one or more sensors to acquire therefrom measurements associated with forces acting on the device (and therefore the good) and/or the environmental conditions to which the device (and therefore the good) is exposed. The processor then records such measurements and a timestamp of when such measurement was acquired in the memory associated with the RFID transceiver. An RFID reading device may later be used to read a log of measurements associated with the forces and environmental conditions encountered by the monitoring device. Such log may be analyzed to determine if the good encountered extraordinary forces and/or environmental conditions.
In the monitoring device described above, the processor is powered and becomes active periodically to poll the sensors in the device. In some monitoring devices the processor may actuate an indicator periodically that indicates whether monitoring device is active and/or whether the monitoring device has been exposed to an unacceptable environmental condition. If the processor and or indicator are activated over a long period of time, the monitoring device may require a battery with sufficient capacity. However, a battery that has sufficient capacity may be bulky and the device may need to include features that accommodate such battery.